by Eilish McColgan has spent the last seven weeks safe in the knowledge of two things.
First, it can finally be called a marathon runner.
And secondly, she will almost never attack a marathon who puts her as much to play as her beginnings.
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McColgan has a stellar record on the track and on the road, but after having decided that it was going to move to the marathon, it literally took years to reach the starting line.
A number of injuries, including knee surgery at the end of 2023, made it possible to delay and delay its debut to the marathon. But finally, at the London marathon in April this year, McColgan ranked his first marathon.
And since almost the second, she crossed the finish line, a wave of relief has crashed on McColgan and she spent the last few weeks to lounge in a state without pressure that she has never lived before in the entire elite career of a decade.
“This is the first time in my career, I am not in a hurry to come back in things. It is good not to feel this pressure or an intense stress because so often, I rushed to prepare for the next thing,” said the 34 -year -old man.
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“Last year, I rushed to return from a knee operation to go to the Paris Olympic Games, then almost immediately, I felt like I was constantly fighting against time to be ready for the London Marathon.
“So this is the first time I felt good, I checked my box for the year and therefore if I do another marathon in 2025, then great, but if I don’t do it, it doesn’t really matter.
“It is now me what I want to do for the rest of the year instead of feeling constantly rushing to prepare for the next championship and lacking time.
“It means that I now feel the least pressure I felt during my entire career, and it’s really, really nice.”
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(Image: PA)
From the outside, McColgan’s race in London was something close to the beginnings of Dream Marathon; An eighth place, the best British woman and a new Scottish record of 2 hours 24 minutes 25 seconds were an impressive performance. And given the way in which the race took place – McColgan was forced to run almost all of the 26.2 miles alone – the Dundonian seemed admirably to face his first marathon race.
Appearances can be misleading, however, and how it seemed to spectators could not have been more contrasting with what it felt.
“From the start of the race, I felt rough. Literally as soon as I started running, I felt how heavy my legs felt heavy and it is obviously a great concern when you have 26 miles to go, “she says.
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“This feeling has never really disappeared and if anything, it has done the worst gradually, so mentally, I found it difficult. I knew it was going to be a very long slog, and it was made even more difficult since I was running alone because I had never visualized by doing the whole solo race.
“I definitely had moments of thought to stop. Halfway, I had a cramp in my right quad, so in my head, I just said to myself to continue putting one foot in front of the other.
“So, honestly, I don’t think I will never run a marathon that feels as difficult as that.
“It was only when I entered this last half-mile section while heading to the shopping center that I thought I was going to be able to finish.”
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Despite her difficulties throughout the two and a half hours of the race, McColgan admits that his first marathon experience was something she will cherish.
Although he ran on the biggest stages of all – she is an Olympian quadruple and produced one of the most memorable moments of the Commonwealth Games in 2022 when she won 10,000 meters of gold – the experience and atmosphere of her first marathon, she admits, unique.
“London was very different from tracking on track because people applauded specifically for me. I could hear people shouting ‘Go eilish’, people shouted my mother’s name or shouted Dundee Hawks. It was very different from the Commonwealth games when it was very noisy, but you can’t choose what people say. The crowd was the only thing that prevented me.
Eilish McColgan won 10,000 m gold at the Commonwealth 2022 games (Image: Steve Christo – Corbis) By seeing her finished, the initial feeling of McColgan was disappointment. She had improved the previous Scottish record of Steph Twell for more than two minutes, and her own mother, Liz’s, by two and a half minutes.
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McColgan was, she thought, in good shape to go faster, but as the weeks that followed the race passed, she began to realize that finally to make her debut in the marathon after two heavy years of disturbed injuries, and fight with the far from perfect finishing line is a remarkable achievement.
“I have been trying to get on the starting line of a marathon for two years and that had never happened, so of course, there was a little doubt in my mind wondering if it will happen,” she said.
“So on reflection, I am really proud to finish it because it would have been much easier to have called it a day of doors.”
There is, not surprisingly, a number of things that McColgan will take his race in London in his upcoming training, and in future marathons.
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The Scottish will concentrate almost exclusively on the road in the future and even if it remains uncertain when its next appearance at the marathon will be, it is sure of what it wants to achieve on its hermit exit on 26.2 miles.
“In less than 2 hours, 20 minutes is a big goal – that’s when you start to become more competitive and give you a chance to be on the podium with major marathons,” she said.
“I really have the impression that 2:20 could potentially be the next step for me given how difficult London was, so next time, if I could feel normal up to half, I think it would make a big difference for me and for my time.
“I do not know exactly where my next marathon will be, but the great thing is that there is a major marathon every few weeks, so if I aim Berlin but I am not quite ready, I can repel it in New York or Chicago or even London next year.
“So I have the impression of being in an excellent position.”
